Brian Volk-Weiss has seen his share of documentaries. Heck, he’s even made a few, including a two-hour documentary going where no one has gone before (specifically, the History Channel’s 50 Years of Star Trek). But when the longtime TV producer first approached Netflix with an idea near and dear to his heart, it didn’t exactly cut through the clutter.

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Previously, the only work Volk-Weiss had done for the streaming company were comedy specials centered on everyone from Jim Gaffigan to Tiffany Haddish. But he’d been sitting on a pitch about an even older passion—his 30+ years of collecting toys.

“For a long time, I kept annoying [Netflix] about what they kept calling, ‘Brian’s Toy Show,’” he tells Ars. “Eventually, I was lucky enough to get someone to listen and take me seriously.”

If the History Channel connection didn’t give it away, Volk-Weiss loves a good backstory. “Brian’s Toy Show” started from a few Internet deep dives when he came away dissatisfied with the lack of origin story information on iconic toys from Barbie to He-Man. But Netflix—contrary to the hands-off reputation the “network” has gained with its high-profile originals—gave Volk-Weiss a bit of honest feedback. That feedback ended up saving “Brian’s Toy Show” and eventually shaping it into the delightful, recently released docu-series The Toys That Made Us.

“They said, ‘We trust that you’re a nerd about toys, but if you make a show only for people like you, you’re going to have 30 people watching it,’” Volk-Weiss recalls. “‘We don’t greenlight shows for 30 people.’”

So, instead of a serious historical project Ken Burns could love, Volk-Weiss embraced what he knew: comedy. And now that I have finally caught up on the four episodes that debuted this winter, I can declare that this tweak frankly makes the whole thing.

A doc for those raised on Saturday morning cartoons

To be clear, The Toys That Made Us has no shortage of information. Volk-Weiss and his team get practically every designer and exec you could ask for on camera, despite dealing with major brands like Hasbro, Kenner, and Mattel. The first four episodes cover Barbie, He-Man, and G.I. Joe, while George Lucas ends up being the only “so-and-so declined to appear” slide throughout. Even if that disappointed Volk-Weiss, he’s quick to note how rare his access was and how interesting all the minds behind these toys turned out to be.

“Listen, sitting there meeting the dude who sculpted the original Tie-Fighter model was way more exciting ahead of time than it was to meet the woman who figured out what Barbie’s hands would look like,” Volk-Weiss says regarding access (and revealing Star Wars as his preferred brand of toy obsession). “But after I understood what Barbie was, I’m now more interested in Barbie than many things—but nothing will ever dethrone Star Wars.’

With that trove of information, however, Volk-Weiss leaves room for his documentary to have a sense of humor. The He-Man episode does not shy away from how many of the side characters—like villain Stinkor or hero Ram Man—seem like split-second ideas and naming decisions. A G.I. Joe creator’s insistence on his toy being “an action figure, not a doll” gets turned into a running soundbite joke throughout that hour. And almost unthinkable ideas in retrospect—from the Heinz Burger Blaster to the puberty-themed Growing Up Skipper—get proper acknowledgment and roasting. You’ll chuckle regardless of fandom, but even diehards of a certain toy line seem to walk away with new revelations.

“The biggest surprise for me—because the truth was the exact opposite of what I spent my life believing, and it felt like 98 percent of people my age felt the same way—we all grew up thinking George Lucas made 99 cents out of every dollar from the toys,” Volk-Weiss says. “And I remember reading the transcripts from the field producers and hearing George Lucas only got 2.5 percent. I said, ‘No, no, that’s wrong. That’s not true, you misheard him. That’s wrong.’”

(#NoSpoilers, but let’s say Lucas didn’t make as lucrative of a deal as Star Wars fans assumed. This discovery definitely made Internet headlines for the documentary.)

Where else do you turn for life lessons? Television inspired by toys, duh.

The Toys That Made Us also (inadvertently, it turns out) does a smart thing and borrows its format from the TV spinoffs associated with the very toys being analyzed. Each episode includes an animated title sequence with a Saturday morning cartoons-ish jingle near the start. All the toys have genuine moments of conflict involved—He-Man execs trying to sell what’s essentially marketing research by promising comics or TV on the spot; Barbie’s on-point leadership being ruthless and fast-tracking concepts to market to usurp things like Jem or Bratz; etc.—throughout the middle. And all the episodes end with those signature life lessons-ish post-scripts you’d see on G.I. Joe or He-Man. This is when The Toys That Made Us encapsulates a given toy’s lasting impact in the face of any do-or-die moments overcome.

“Actually, I learned the importance of a good ending from early Jackie Chan movies,” Volk-Weiss admits, citing how Chan would play funny outtakes over his films’ credits. “Even if you sat there for an hour and a half kinda bored, you watch these brilliant outtakes and leave the theater laughing and smiling about how great the movie was.”

(To drive home this storytelling philosophy: Volk-Weiss says hundreds and hundreds of hours went into each episode, but he knows he spent at least 11 hours in the editing bay on just the last five minutes of the Barbie episode, for instance.)

The Toys That Made Us docu-series has four more episodes in the works focusing on Hello Kitty, Transformers, LEGO, and Star Trek. They’ll be available on Netflix sometime in the first half of 2018 (Volk-Weiss was still in production and didn’t have a firm release date to share when speaking with Ars).

While no second season has been announced yet, Volk-Weiss is confident he has oodles of additional material if Netflix wants to move forward. He says the reaction has been extremely positive from both collectors and non-collectors, and plenty of fans have been reaching out to him about plenty of other toys—Hot Wheels, Power Rangers, WWF figures.

“If I’m ever found dead in a ditch at some con, ask the president of the My Little Pony fan club for an alibi,” he jokes. But if things do move forward, there’s a clear first episode for any hypothetical season two.

“Turtles [as in Teenage Mutant Ninja], without a doubt, is what people asked about the most,” Volk-Weiss says. “People were repeatedly asking me, ‘Why would you do a Star Trek episode and not a Turtles? I’m pretty sure if I was watching the show I’d be wondering that, but I did Star Trek because I love Star Trek. I didn’t know if I’d get more episodes, and I wanted to do Star Trek.”

“Turtles [as in Teenage Mutant Ninja], without a doubt, is what people asked about the most,” Volk-Weiss says. “People were repeatedly asking me, ‘Why would you do a Star Trek episode and not a Turtles? I’m pretty sure if I was watching the show I’d be wondering that, but I did Star Trek because I love Star Trek. I didn’t know if I’d get more episodes, and I wanted to do Star Trek.”

I really enjoyed this series, so much more than I expected. Although I wasn't into any of the toys that were part of series 1, the stories behind them were still so full of little tit-bits and trivia that it really didn't matter.

For example, I've never owned a Barbie but the story behind her origin was really funny (she's based on a sex toy)... the guy who used his own sock to make a cape for one of the Star Wars figures just before their meeting with Lucasfilm... the makers of GI Joe were able to win a copyright infringement case because when they designed the original figure, one of his thumbs was accidentally backwards. This mistake was dutifully copied by the fakers and so became evidence...

It's also a really interesting look into office / manager culture. What I liked the most about the He-Man episode was that a number of different people legitimately had a role in the overall success, but all disputed who actually "created" He-Man. In my opinion, it sounds like the writers at Filmmation had a role that was arguably more significant than the toy designers - sure you can design how a toy looks, but it was the cartoon series that defined the characters and created the story. But still, there's no disputing that fact that a single guy was responsible for what He-Man looks like, another for the idea itself, another for getting the distribution deals and so on. As the proverb says "Success has many parents, failure is an orphan" or whatever.

Anyway well worth a look. I'm interested to see how they approach the Lego one, because I've watched a few docos/TV shows on the origins of Lego and it's pretty dry. Perhaps that's just the way other TV producers have approached the material. But TTTMU is a bit more schlocky in its production values, which the article notes is part of the style, and so I'm wondering just how funny the original story of Lego can be when compared to Barbie and so on...

This seems less like a toy documentary than it does one about product merchandising through tie-ins. Granted, some of the things started out as toys and then got their own shows (Skipper and Barbie, for example), but He-Man toys were all about the show, Star Wars were, too. Most of the other things mentioned are dolls or show tie-ins. Seems to me GI Joe got a show because of the toys, too.

It isn't exactly stretching one's research skills to present those origin stories.

This article seems to indicate the documentary (I'm gathering it's a series) focuses on action figures of various kinds that were mostly intended for children as play-toys. I'm sure that brings back fond memories for a lot of people, but I was never into the action figure thing.

GI Joe came out in the 1960's IIRC, as an "action figure", but to me (even when I was in grade school) it was still just a doll for boys. I wasn't much of a fan. I preferred my "army men" when I was feeling destructive.

But my #1 toys growing up were erector sets, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and the once king of imagination toy Legos. I say "once" because at one time all you could buy were blocks and "sets" weren't a thing. You had to use your imagination to build anything. People today wonder why I'm so good at MacGuyvering things. I attribute it to having a limited number of things to start with and knowing that something useful can be done with it.

It's all in imagination.

So my imagination went construction/abstract and others went more conventional/real life, all very likely based on the toys we played with.

A more compelling documentary would be focusing less on the toys themselves, but instead focusing on how those toys influenced our lives and development. I suppose that's a bit too high-brow for mere entertainment, and it would definitely involve a lot more research than this, so I don't think we'll ever see that as an offering on Netflix (or anywhere else). In that respect, I expect folks will enjoy their nostalgic journey into their pasts by this. I might even check it out myself.

"I feel superior because I played with 'superior' toys!"

BTW - this is only anecdotal, but most kids (myself and brother included) who got those sets almost never even made them. It was always much more fun to create your own stuff, even if you first tried or did build the set the proper way.

Well, ok, I knew one kid that actually did build the sets exactly perfectly and then sort of displayed them and didn't really like to play with them, but I blame his parents.

This seems less like a toy documentary than it does one about product merchandising through tie-ins. Granted, some of the things started out as toys and then got their own shows (Skipper and Barbie, for example), but He-Man toys were all about the show, Star Wars were, too. Most of the other things mentioned are dolls or show tie-ins. Seems to me GI Joe got a show because of the toys, too.

It isn't exactly stretching one's research skills to present those origin stories.

This article seems to indicate the documentary (I'm gathering it's a series) focuses on action figures of various kinds that were mostly intended for children as play-toys. I'm sure that brings back fond memories for a lot of people, but I was never into the action figure thing.

GI Joe came out in the 1960's IIRC, as an "action figure", but to me (even when I was in grade school) it was still just a doll for boys. I wasn't much of a fan. I preferred my "army men" when I was feeling destructive.

But my #1 toys growing up were erector sets, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and the once king of imagination toy Legos. I say "once" because at one time all you could buy were blocks and "sets" weren't a thing. You had to use your imagination to build anything. People today wonder why I'm so good at MacGuyvering things. I attribute it to having a limited number of things to start with and knowing that something useful can be done with it.

It's all in imagination.

So my imagination went construction/abstract and others went more conventional/real life, all very likely based on the toys we played with.

A more compelling documentary would be focusing less on the toys themselves, but instead focusing on how those toys influenced our lives and development. I suppose that's a bit too high-brow for mere entertainment, and it would definitely involve a lot more research than this, so I don't think we'll ever see that as an offering on Netflix (or anywhere else). In that respect, I expect folks will enjoy their nostalgic journey into their pasts by this. I might even check it out myself.

First off the He-Man toys were not about the show. The reason why they made the show was because they made the toys and didn't know to get to market the toys for the boys. That is why there was a small comic in the packaging of each toy to give them a back story. Then the show came out to market the toys since they had the comic.

I really enjoyed this documentary and I am not one for documentaries. Just finding out how some of the toys got made and what all they had to do was really cool. I love the Saturday Morning Cartoon feel that you get when you start watching an episode. I can't wait to see about the TMNT and Transformers. I had Transformers and He-Man toys when I was growing up (I am a woman and I loved playing with them), so seeing this and being amazed is really cool.

This seems less like a toy documentary than it does one about product merchandising through tie-ins. Granted, some of the things started out as toys and then got their own shows (Skipper and Barbie, for example), but He-Man toys were all about the show, Star Wars were, too. Most of the other things mentioned are dolls or show tie-ins. Seems to me GI Joe got a show because of the toys, too.

It isn't exactly stretching one's research skills to present those origin stories.

This article seems to indicate the documentary (I'm gathering it's a series) focuses on action figures of various kinds that were mostly intended for children as play-toys. I'm sure that brings back fond memories for a lot of people, but I was never into the action figure thing.

GI Joe came out in the 1960's IIRC, as an "action figure", but to me (even when I was in grade school) it was still just a doll for boys. I wasn't much of a fan. I preferred my "army men" when I was feeling destructive.

But my #1 toys growing up were erector sets, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and the once king of imagination toy Legos. I say "once" because at one time all you could buy were blocks and "sets" weren't a thing. You had to use your imagination to build anything. People today wonder why I'm so good at MacGuyvering things. I attribute it to having a limited number of things to start with and knowing that something useful can be done with it.

It's all in imagination.

So my imagination went construction/abstract and others went more conventional/real life, all very likely based on the toys we played with.

A more compelling documentary would be focusing less on the toys themselves, but instead focusing on how those toys influenced our lives and development. I suppose that's a bit too high-brow for mere entertainment, and it would definitely involve a lot more research than this, so I don't think we'll ever see that as an offering on Netflix (or anywhere else). In that respect, I expect folks will enjoy their nostalgic journey into their pasts by this. I might even check it out myself.

My experiences mirror yours closely enough that I could have written that post myself. I had Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and a wealth of other 'constructive' toys that would no longer come within miles of passing child safety laws.

However, while I only had Star Wars toys and figures second hand, and never cared for GI Joe or He-Man in any incarnation (Transformers all the way!) - I've still enjoyed the episodes of this that I've seen.

Of course I didn't go into it expecting an exhaustive look at all of the toys of my childhood, but I appreciated the extra information it was able to provide about some of the things I enjoyed as a kid, and the adult side of the industry that I had no real idea about at age 10.

As for Lego - I long felt the way you do. Until the last 18-24 months when I started picking up some of the new sets.

The engineering on these things is insane, and the ability to create things we only dreamed of as kids is now possible.

How many times did you find yourself saying, "If only I could connect these at a 45 degree angle", or "I'm stuck because this needs to be double sided" (i.e. studs oriented 180 degrees from each other). You can do that now, and imagination is even less limited than it was 35 years ago.

Yeah, it seems most of them come in dedicated sets now, but as always, that doesn't stop you from just building whatever you want. And the new parts and engineering creates possibilities and a freedom we never had as kids.

I watched this series a while back when it showed up on my Netflix recommended list. I really enjoyed every episode. The GI Joe brought back fond memories. One of them being a competition to see who could make the best parachute and I remembered a documentary about why parachutes had openings/hole at the top and air velocity, etc, etc. So when lunch time came around we all had our parachutes made from plastic bags and strings, and mine had a hole cut in the top of the plastic bag. Suffice to say, I both won and lost the competition in the sense my GI Joe stayed in the air the longest, but it also got carried away by the wind over the walls and onto the road where it was run over by a car. And it was my favourite GI Joe too! Snake Eyes!Broken was my heart to find out how Snake Eyes came to be when they came to that part of the story in Toys that Made us, and it was just an economic decision about paint budgets. Still love Snake Eyes tho.

This seems less like a toy documentary than it does one about product merchandising through tie-ins. Granted, some of the things started out as toys and then got their own shows (Skipper and Barbie, for example), but He-Man toys were all about the show, Star Wars were, too. Most of the other things mentioned are dolls or show tie-ins. Seems to me GI Joe got a show because of the toys, too.

It isn't exactly stretching one's research skills to present those origin stories.

This article seems to indicate the documentary (I'm gathering it's a series) focuses on action figures of various kinds that were mostly intended for children as play-toys. I'm sure that brings back fond memories for a lot of people, but I was never into the action figure thing.

GI Joe came out in the 1960's IIRC, as an "action figure", but to me (even when I was in grade school) it was still just a doll for boys. I wasn't much of a fan. I preferred my "army men" when I was feeling destructive.

But my #1 toys growing up were erector sets, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and the once king of imagination toy Legos. I say "once" because at one time all you could buy were blocks and "sets" weren't a thing. You had to use your imagination to build anything. People today wonder why I'm so good at MacGuyvering things. I attribute it to having a limited number of things to start with and knowing that something useful can be done with it.

It's all in imagination.

So my imagination went construction/abstract and others went more conventional/real life, all very likely based on the toys we played with.

A more compelling documentary would be focusing less on the toys themselves, but instead focusing on how those toys influenced our lives and development. I suppose that's a bit too high-brow for mere entertainment, and it would definitely involve a lot more research than this, so I don't think we'll ever see that as an offering on Netflix (or anywhere else). In that respect, I expect folks will enjoy their nostalgic journey into their pasts by this. I might even check it out myself.

"I feel superior because I played with 'superior' toys!"

BTW - this is only anecdotal, but most kids (myself and brother included) who got those sets almost never even made them. It was always much more fun to create your own stuff, even if you first tried or did build the set the proper way.

Well, ok, I knew one kid that actually did build the sets exactly perfectly and then sort of displayed them and didn't really like to play with them, but I blame his parents.

Wow, is that what you got out of that?

Dolls never interested me. I never said dolls weren't something other people went with or were "better" or "worse". I never put down other people because they went with different toy sets. To each their own. My post never implied anything else.

If you READ anything else into it, that's entirely on you.

And, old son, it sounds to me like you have some issues that need to be addressed.

However, while I only had Star Wars toys and figures second hand, and never cared for GI Joe or He-Man in any incarnation (Transformers all the way!) - I've still enjoyed the episodes of this that I've seen.

So few people remember the ORIGINAL GI Joe action figures that were about 12" tall, and had huge vehicles you could also get, like a 6 wheeled atv or my favorite, the helicopter you could put GI Joe in (that was his name, it wasn't a group of anti-terrorists).

His well coiffed beard also fit in well in the early to mid 70s. You also had to get 'The Intruder' (keep your minds out of the gutter) who played his extra-terrestrial overly steroided nemesis with a push button grabber action.

Pair this with the original '6 Million Dollar Man' action figures and it was the best stuff you could get as a kid.

"“Actually, I learned the importance of a good ending from early Jackie Chan movies,” Volk-Weiss admits, citing how Chan would play funny outtakes over his films’ credits. “Even if you sat there for an hour and a half kinda bored, you watch these brilliant outtakes and leave the theater laughing and smiling about how great the movie was.”"

IIRC, Chan credits Hal Needham from Cannonball Run [that Jackie Chan was in; Needham also did the bloopers at the end of some earlier movies, 'Hooper' and 'Smokey and the Bandit II'

Some kids grow up with posters of fast cars, or movie stars, or sports heroes. My dad was a Navy man who went to work for Lockheed, so our walls were plastered with military hardware. Having crates of G.I. Joe vehicles was our way of bringing those pictures to life.

I really enjoyed this series, so much more than I expected. Although I wasn't into any of the toys that were part of series 1, the stories behind them were still so full of little tit-bits and trivia that it really didn't matter.

Interesting Freudian slip after Growing Up Skipper and Barbie being based on a sex-toy.

Great series I loved it, though I didn't grow up with those toys. Like some posters said ahead, I'm really curious as to how these dolls have affected our development and society. Possibly too simplistic, but I see that Barbie dolls create an image of an ideal woman and he-man/gi joe, ideal men. I wonder how much this plays into the jock-cheerleader stereotypes.

“Actually, I learned the importance of a good ending from early Jackie Chan movies,” Volk-Weiss admits, citing how Chan would play funny outtakes over his films’ credits. “Even if you sat there for an hour and a half kinda bored, you watch these brilliant outtakes and leave the theater laughing and smiling about how great the movie was.”

This is a fantastic series! My wife, as some here know, is a play therapist so anything about toys is a slam dunk for her. I, of course, am a geek so anything geek-y is great for me. We laughed our asses off at numerous points and even learned some stuff. Looking forward to more!

Good stuff. I've enjoyed all the episodes so far. I had MOTU and Star Wars figures back in the day (still do with a handful of Black Series and more recently the four MOTU Mega Construx figures) but my passion has always been Transformers. I'm eager for that episode to come out.

GI Joe came out in the 1960's IIRC, as an "action figure", but to me (even when I was in grade school) it was still just a doll for boys. I wasn't much of a fan. I preferred my "army men" when I was feeling destructive.

But my #1 toys growing up were erector sets, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and the once king of imagination toy Legos. I say "once" because at one time all you could buy were blocks and "sets" weren't a thing. You had to use your imagination to build anything. People today wonder why I'm so good at MacGuyvering things. I attribute it to having a limited number of things to start with and knowing that something useful can be done with it.

I had old-school G.I. Joes (Kung Fu Grip, baby!) and Lincoln Logs, SSPs and Erector Sets, Ding-a-Lings and Tinkertoys, etc. Loved 'em all, but have a soft spot in my heart for this beast:

If you were willing to work at it, you could get the blades spinning at speeds that could cause real damage to various knick-knacks.

You still used your imagination. As I got older, that imagination involved pairing my Joes with my sister's old Barbies.

GI Joe came out in the 1960's IIRC, as an "action figure", but to me (even when I was in grade school) it was still just a doll for boys. I wasn't much of a fan. I preferred my "army men" when I was feeling destructive.

But my #1 toys growing up were erector sets, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and the once king of imagination toy Legos. I say "once" because at one time all you could buy were blocks and "sets" weren't a thing. You had to use your imagination to build anything. People today wonder why I'm so good at MacGuyvering things. I attribute it to having a limited number of things to start with and knowing that something useful can be done with it.

I had old-school G.I. Joes (Kung Fu Grip, baby!) and Lincoln Logs, SSPs and Erector Sets, Ding-a-Lings and Tinkertoys, etc. Loved 'em all, but have a soft spot in my heart for this beast:

If you were willing to work at it, you could get the blades spinning at speeds that could cause real damage to various knick-knacks.

You still used your imagination. As I got older, that imagination involved pairing my Joes with my sister's old Barbies.

Shenanigans would ensue.

Yes! That was the best of the early GI Joe Adventure Team items!

And yes, GI Joe turned Ken into a cuck and showed Barbie how to party on the Barbie Dream Boat.